The right of employees or their representatives to request information from their employers under the European Works Councils Directive constitutes a "necessary prerequisite" for determining whether a European-scale undertaking exists, rules the European Court of Justice in Betriebsrat der bofrost Josef H Boquoi Deutschland West GmbH & Co KG v Bofrost Josef H Boquoi Deutschland West GmbH & Co KG.

In our latest round-up of cases from the European Court of Justice, we look at cases on equal pay, maternity leave and equal treatment, the variation of terms relating to early retirement following a transfer of an undertaking, working time and European Works Councils.

In European Commission v Austria, the ECJ holds that Austria directly discriminated against foreign nationals working legally in the country by denying them the right to stand for election to works councils and general assemblies of workers because they were not of Austrian nationality.

In Gesamtbetriebsrat der Kühne & Nagel AG & Co KG v Kühne & Nagel AG & Co KG, the ECJ holds that articles 4(1) and 11(1) of the European Works Councils Directive require that where the central management of a Community-scale group of undertakings is not located in one of the EU member states, the responsibility for providing the employees' representatives with the information essential to the opening of negotiations for the establishment of a European Works Council lies with the deemed central management.

In case C-440/00: Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG, the ECJ ruled on 13 January 2004 that where the central management of a Community-scale group of undertakings is not located in the EU, the responsibility for providing employees with information essential to the opening of negotiations for establishing a European Works Council (EWC) lies with the deemed central management.

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Precedent-setting cases from the EAT and appellate courts, along with reports of selected tribunal cases, relating to employee relations: European Works Councils.

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